Tauranga mums Kristy Hunter and Stine Smith are on a mission to eliminate the nasty dish cloth from Kiwi homes with a compostable, eco-friendly alternative
When friends Kristy Hunter and Stine Smith wandered their local supermarket, they were dismayed at the amount of packaging and plastics used in everyday items – so they decided to do something about it.
In August last year they launched Good Change and their first product – the Eco Cloth, a reusable, eco-friendly alternative to the traditional plastic-wrapped, microplastic-filled kitchen sponges that end up in landfill within weeks. Neither of them expected the uptake and demand from the New Zealand public would be so fast.
Today, the Swedish-invented Eco Cloths are stocked in more than 75 supermarkets and individual retailers around New Zealand, and feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.
“We are solving a problem for Kiwis: people want to make more eco-friendly and sustainable choices but there’s not always that option available. Until Eco Cloth, the only kitchen cloths or sponges available contained microplastics, lasted just weeks, ended up in landfill, and were wrapped in yet more plastic,” explains Hunter.
“We know from our own experience with our families that we want to do the right thing – but until now there hasn’t been an eco-friendly option. Our cloths are made from all-natural materials, they don’t shed plastic because there isn’t any, and once you’re done you can chuck them in your compost bin or use them as weed mat,” says Denmark-born Smith.
With Eco Cloths, friends Hunter and Stine are determined to give New Zealanders a greener option – and one they won’t want to hide under their sink.
For every pack of Eco Cloths sold, Good Change gifts a month’s worth of clean water to a family in Cambodia. They also offer their Eco Cloths as a school fundraiser option, instead of chocolates.
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